I wrote an essay on leadership in America for a college scholarship essay and quoted Woodrow Wilson. I’m probably blowing this out of proportion, but with the Princeton protests on his legacy as of late, will this be an issue? I had no idea of his racist polices when I submitted this essay. Actually disappointed in myself because I did not know this about him.
Anyways hope you all have a good day lol
That WW had racist views does not mean he did not have good ones as well. I would not worry.
Nobody is going to reject you for quoting Woodrow Wilson. The ancient Greeks kept slaves in large numbers, but nobody condemns those who quote Plato.
Yes, you are blowing it out of proportion. Quoting Wilson will neither get you or lose you the scholarship.
“[Some of the Founding Fathers] kept slaves in large numbers, but nobody condemns those who quote [the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution].”
:)>-
Thanks everyone for your input. I just wanted to make sure in light of what is going on. Enjoy the rest of your day! 
it is hard to answer this question w/o reading the quote. if you quoted him in regard to his leadership in WWI, you are prob fine. What is problematic, is that you quoted him w/o knowing anything about him. Admissions people know that kids have google, and know that we can google inspirational quotes about “x” and stick it in an essay. They are not impressed by that. It doesn’t hurt, but it doesn’t help. At least you didn’t quote MLK, Ghandi, or Helen Keller, I have spoken to people in admissions and they say those are the most used- you obviously want to stand out in your essay. You should only quote people in essays if you knew them personally like your mom or a teacher, or if you are going to relate the quote specifically to your life in a meaningful way (not just sticking it in as something you like to embody). Wilson isn’t super cliche so he is better than MLK, but you should definitely know about who you quote ie: that he re segregated the army and vocally supported the KKK. You should have learned about him in US History, so this is prob more your teacher’s fault than yours, but still.
You’ll probably be fine, but I’m finding it a bit hard to believe that you were entirely oblivious to Wilson’s racist views prior to the unrest at Princeton.
Wait, Woodrow Wilson…wasn’t that the guy who got us through the Great War?
@Prospective1998 in his (OP’s) defense, I’ve not only heard of Woodrow Wilson, but also got a 100 in APUSH, a 5 on the AP and a 770 on the US History SAT2, and I still didn’t know that he was racist…
Nothing to worry about. Won’t be a problem.
@mytosies I get that different schools and different teachers emphasize different things, but really? His Fourteen Points were pretty important
Here’s my favorite damning Wilson quote, from his “[The Meaning of a Liberal Education](The Meaning of a Liberal Education - Wikisource, the free online library)”:
I was going to quote Reagan and Reagan had also done questionable things in his presidency (I’m not personally a huge Reagan fan but the essay was talking about modern American leaders and enough believe him to be) but I preferred Woodrow’s quote @Prospective1998
Many of the leaders of our country were problematic in some regard is what I think the majority of people are saying.
By the way, the quote was: “The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.” It went perfectly with the message of my essay.
Thanks again for your thoughts everyone.
@mytosies Lol that is literally my situation! I got a 5 on APUSH 99 on regents and A+ in the class and I didn’t think my teacher sanitized history but she did not mention this… Not blaming her but I can’t believe I didn’t know until now.
@Prospective1998 no, I may have been unclear, I’m sorry—I knew about Wilson, knew of his presidency in the world war, but his racism was never even alluded to—that’s all I meant
I see where the confusion is now (lol): Of course I knew of Wilson’s achievements and presidency but I did not know about his racist polices (which is what I meant by learning a “sanitized” version of history). Hope that clarified everything. @mytosies
BTW happy thanksgiving if anyone on this thread celebrates and all the responses have been helpful.
^^I’m slightly confused, as that’s exactly what I was saying … but happy thanksgiving to you, too!